Button-fastening machine.



e. w. PERKINS.

BUTTON FASTENING MACHINE. APPLICATION HLED DEC. 8 1916.

Patented Mar. 18,1919.

GEORGE W. PERKINS, 013 BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR' TO HEATON PENIN-SULAR BUTTON FASTENER COMPANY, OF GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN, A CORPORA-'TION OF MAINE.

BUTTON-FASTENING MACHINE.

Application filed'DecemberS, 1916. Serial No. 135,884.:

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. PERKINS,.-

a citizen of the United States, residing at Boston, county of Suffolk,State of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and usefulImprovement in Button-Fastening Machines, of which the following is aspecification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.I

The invention relates to a machine for attaching buttons to shoes andother articles by metallic fasteners, and is especially intended forthat class of such machines in which the fastener is formed from a wirewhich is fed through the eye of the button, the wire then being formedinto shape for the fastener, the button and attached fastener then beingcarried to a position to be secured to the shoe or other article.

One feature of the invention relates. to an adjustable cover for theraceway and the means forraising and lowering it to adapt it to buttonsof difierent sizes.

In Patent No. 1,070,170 dated August 12, 1913, granted on my applicationthere was shown and described a carriage, movable parallel with theraceway and provided with two slidable fingers movable with the carriageand movable laterally with relation to the carriage to position thebutton for the threading movement of the fastener wire. One feature ofthe present invention relates to an improvement on said button fingers.

In the device shown in said patent the button fingers were formed withtransversely concaved inner ends to grip the button head between them,but in the construction there shown the said ends were concaved in suchmanner that the width of the entrance to the space between said jaws wasthe same as the width of the exit from said jaws. One feature of thepresent invention is to so form the concave ends of the fingers that thewidth of the passage out from between the concave endsof said jaws onthe lower side shall be greater than the.-

width of the entrance between said fingers o the upper side for thepurpose of more readily releasing the said fingers from the button atthe time of the return movement of the fingers.

Another feature of the invention is to form the concaved ends of saidfingers somewhatunden cut orbackwardly sloping on the under $16.6 sothat; the ends of the fingers on ,the1r uppersldes will engage therounded upper surface of the button head.

while the lower portion of the finger end retreats awayfrom the button.

The invention will be fully' understood from. the: following.description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and thenovel features will be pointed out and clearly defined at the close ofthe specification.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side eleva-,

tion partly in section of a portion of a raceway and connected partsembodying the invention and showing a portion of the operative partstherefor, the parts being shown in position where a button has beencarried.

to the position for being threaded, the usual placer being omitted forthe purpose of more clearly showing the parts which are the subject ofthe present invention.

Fig. 2 is a .planview of the parts shown inFig. 1, looking in thedirection of the arrow on Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a section on line 33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a section on line H of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is 'a ,plan view of the twobutton fingers detached.

Fig. 6 is a longitudinal section of one of the button fingers. I

Fig. 7 is an enlarged detail view of one of the buttons of theformspecially adapted for use with the machine.

Referring now to the drawings, 1 represents the raceway, and 2 theraceway cover, the buttons 6 traveling downthe raceway in the usualmanner. The particular form of raceway, however, will be .moreparticularly hereinafter described.

Any suitable form of mechanismfor-feeding the wire through the eye ofthe buttonv detail. .In the accompanying drawings a portion only ofthemechanism is shown.

3 is an arbor. on which the wire t rests after it has been threadedthrough the eye 5 of the button 6.

'7 designates what vis termed the former which forms the loop of thefastener and is attached to a former holder 8 which is reshown.

When the button is in the position for re-' ceiving' the wire for thefastener, as shown in Fig. 1, a device called a placer is usuallyemployed to hold the button against movement during the feeding of thewire to the former for the fastener, but the placer is not shown in thedrawings.

The particular form of button shown in the drawings for illustration inconnection with the machine is formed with a boss 16 on the under sideof the head 6 of the but-ton into which the shank of the button eyeextends.

The raceway 1 is formed with a groove or channel extending lengthwisethereof and of suflicient depth to receive the boss and eye of thebutton while the under side of the head rests upon the side lips 17 ofthe raceway. The outer part 18 of the groove in which the boss travelsis relatively wide, said wider portion being considerably wider than theusual raceway groove, and being of sufiioient width and depth throughoutits length to receive the neck or boss 16 of the buttons 6. The portion19 of said groove in which the eye travels is made narrow, about thewidth of the ordinary raceway groove to receive the eye 5 of the button.That is, the groove, viewed in transverse section, is of two widths, anarrow lower portion for the eye and a wider top portion for the boss.

The block in which the raceway groove or channel is cut slopesdownwardly from its upper to its lower end with relation to the bed 20of the raceway until it finally thins down sufliciently so that thegroove develops into a slot 21 through which the eye of the buttonextends, and at the very lower end portion the said slot 21 is broadenedout into an opening 22 of sufficient width for the passage of the boss16 as well as of the eye 5 of the button. The said bed plate 20 of theraceway is preferably of no greater thickness than the length of theboss or neck 16 of the button, and the edges 23 of said broadenedportion 22 of the raceway slot are beveled to form a convenient seat forthe beveled sides of the boss 16.

The button fingers, or button carrier fingers, 24, 24, are for thepurpose described in said former Patent No. 1,070,170, namely, to takethe lowermost button in the raceway at the proper time after the lastpreviously 25, 25, one on each side of the raceway, tied together by'a-yoke 26 which is arched over the top of the raceway and which issecured to the lower end of a rod 27, the other end of said rod 27 beingconnected with suitable mechanism, not shown, for reciprocating saidcarriage up and down parallel with the raceway at the proper times. Theform of said carrier fingers is an improvement upon the form shown insaid former patent.

The proximate ends 29 of said carrier fingers 24 are somewhat concavedand are undercut or formed with backwardly sloping faces 32. Theproximate horns or corners 61, 61 on the upper side are nearer togetherthan the proximate horns 62, 62 on the lower side, making a sort ofconcave flare. The purpose of having the upper corners more nearlytogether and of having a wider spread of the lower corners, is so thatwhen they first grip the button they will more positively separate itfrom the one behind it, and when the fingers separate to release thebutton it will be released more quickly, and yet when in grippingengagement the button is securely held. When the said fingers grip thebutton 6, as shown in Fig. 3, the thin upper edges formed by theunderiut Cpf the fingers 24 will engage the button The button carrierfingers 24 are formed with laterally projecting stop portions orshoulders 34 to engage the outer sides respecti'vely of the blocks 25 atthe edge of the slot in which the said fingers slide so as to preventthe said carrier fingers from being moved inward beyond a limiteddistance sufiicient to grip the buttons. Pivotally connected betweenears on the lower end of the raceway cover 2 by a pin 35 is a stopfinger 36 which has a'tension spring 38 to normally hold the lower enddown in front of the lowermost button in the raceway, as shown in Fig.1, so as to hold the line of buttons in the raceway against movementuntil the proper time.

Two swinging finger cams 39, 39, one on each side of the raceway at alittle distance therefrom, are fulcrumed respectively on studs 40 whichrise from the head of the machine, said cams having cam-faced portions41 which are adapted to be engaged by pins 42, 42, respectively risingfrom the outer portions of the carrier fingers 24. A

spring 43 extends across above the raceway and is connected at itsopposite ends with pins 44 rising from the finger cams 39. Said springtends to draw the lower arms of said cam fingers toward each other, butthey are limited in their movement by the pins 45 rising from the headof the machine which engage the outer faces of the upper arms of thesaid finger cams. When the carrier fingers are in their uppermost orrearmost position, the pins 42 which rise from the carrier fingers areon the inner sides of the finger cams 39, the concave inner ends of thecarrier fingers being then in engagement with the opposite sides of thelowermost button in the raceway. When the carrier fingers are moved downby the movement of the bar 27 said pins 42 engage the inner cam faces ofthe portions 41 of the cams 39, thereby swinging the finger cams 39 ontheir pivots and spreading open the cam portions 41 so as to allow saidcarrier fingers to move downward with the button. When said carrierfingers have moved down far enough for the pins 42 to ride past theportions 41, the spring 43 which will have become distended by theswinging movement of the finger cams, will contract and pull the fingercams back into normal position to the limit allowed by the stop pins 45which engage the rear arms thereof, while the carrier fingers willcontinue to the lower end of their stroke, namely sufiicient to positionthe button as shown in Fig.2. The bar 27, and therefore thecarrierfingers 24, will remain in their lowermost position holding thebutton until the proper time for returning the carrier fingers to theposition to engage another button. The returnmovement of the carrierfingers may occur at any time after the button has been threaded withthe wire for the fastener. The actuating mechanism for the button fingercarrier forms no part of the present invention, nor do the fingers 39,but they are merely shown and described herein for convenience ofunderstanding the use of the button carrier finers. g It is to beunderstood that after the button has been positioned as described,placer mechanism, which is not shown, comes into action to hold the saidbutton in its position where left by the carrier fingers, and thecarriage formed by the blocks 25 and the yoke 26 will be moved backward.During the initial rearward movement the rounded edge of the button willform a cam surface which will spread slightly the said carrier fingersuntil they move away from the button, then the pins 42 which rise fromthe carrier fingers will engage the outer faces of the cam portions 41and spread the carrier fingers apart from each other against the tensionof the spring47 until the said pins 42 have ridden up past the rear endsof the cam portions 41, whereupon said springs 47 will cause the carrierfingers to snap in toward each other and engage the lowermost button inthe raceway above the button which has just been released by the carrierfingers. Said lowermost button which is thus engaged is then just abovethe stop finger 36, as shown in Fig. 1, thus gripping the button readyfor the next downward movement of the carrier fingers.- VVhen thecarrier fingers move down again they grip the button with sufficientfirmness so that the pressure of the button will turn the stop pin 36 onits pivot so that the but-- ton can ride beneath it.

The raceway cover 2 is made adjustable to allow for varying sizes ofbuttons. The supporting and adjusting mechanism will now be described.The said cover2 is provided near its upper end with two opposite anddownwardly extending ears or legs-48 which engage with and arevertically slidable in grooved guide ways in the side guide plates 49,50, whichare fiXed to the bed 20.

Rising from the top of the cover is a boss 51 which is tapped out toreceive the threaded stem 52 of an adjusting screw. Said adjusting screwis formed with a peripheral groove 54 between the two flange portions53, 53. The side guide 50 extends upward higher than the cover of theraceway and has at its upper end a bifurcated flange 55 whose armsembrace the neck of the adjusting screw between the said two flanges53,"

53. The said adjusting screw is formed with a head 56, preferablyknurled, so that the adjusting screw may be easily turned. Inasmuch asthe side guide 50 and the overreaching arm 55 are stationary withrelation to the bed on which the raceway is mounted, when the saidadjusting screw is turned, said screw will not rise or fall, but insteadit will raise or lower the raceway cover, according to which way thesaid adjusting screw is turned. Inasmuch as the legs 48 of the cover fitwithin the groove and guide ways, although said grooves allow the coverto be raised and lowered, the cover is notcapable of any oscillatingmovement but is held rigidly so that when the adjusting screw is turned,the entire cover will be correspondinglv raised or lowered.

What I claim is:

1. In combination with a button raceway, a reciprocable carriage havingportions movable parallel with the raceway on each side thereof, twoslidable fingers mounted on opposite sides of the raceway in saidslidable carriage members, and slidable laterally with relation to theraceway and with relation to said carriage members, and tensionmechanism which causes the said fingers to move toward each other and togrip a button in the raceway, said fingers being formed with theirproximate ends concaved on their upper edges, the horns of the concaveends on the entrance side being nearer together than the horns on theexit side.

2. In combination with a button raceway, a reciprocable carriage havingportions movable parallel with the raceway on each side thereof, twoslidable fingers mounted on opposite sides of the raceway in saidcarriage members and slidable laterally with relation to the raceway andwith relation to said carriage members, and tension mechanism whichcauses the said fingers to move toward each other and to grip a buttonin the raceway, said fingers being formed with their proximate endsconcaved on their upper edges, the horns on the entrance side formed bythe concave ends being nearer together than the horns on the exit side,said proximate ends being under cut and sloping downwardly andbackwardly.

3. In combination with a button raceway, two button carrying fingersadapted to embrace a button on opposite sides thereof, said fingersbeing formed with their proximate ends concaved on their upper edges,the horns formed by the concave ends on the entrance side being nearertogether than the l10I1'1S formed on the exit side. I

l. In combination with a button raceway, a cover therefor having on twoopposite sides thereof downwardly extending arms, two side membersrising respectively at opposite sides of said raceway and formed withguide grooves in which said arms are fitted to slide up and down withrelation to the raceway, an adjusting screw, and a mount overhanging theraceway cover in which said adjusting screw is rotatably mounted, saidmount being fixed with relation to the raceway, said adjusting screwhaving threaded connection with said raceway cover whereby by turningsaid screw said cover may be raised and lowered uniformly throughout itslength.

5. In combination with a button raceway, a cover therefor having on twooppositesides thereof downwardly extending arms, two side members risingrespectively at opposite sides of said raceway and formed with guidegrooves in which said arms are fitted to slide up and down with relationto the raceway, an adjusting screw, and a mount for said screwoverhanging the raceway cover, said screw having a shank formed with anannular groove, and said mount having a flange portion which engageswith said annular groove whereby said adjusting screw is permitted to berotated and is held against a longitudinal movement during its rotation,said screw having threaded connection with the cover of the racewaywhereby by turning the screw the cover will be raised and lowered.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

GEORGE W. PERKINS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0.

